Many transit stations, such as train platforms or bus terminals, routinely employ automatic fare validation (or ticket validation) systems to improve user experience and increase the throughput of passengers through, for example, fare gates to and from the train platforms. Modern technical advances, such as smartcards, two-dimensional (2D) barcodes, and Near Field Communication (NFC) capable mobile devices, have reduced passenger ingress and egress time through fare gates. Smartcards can be either contact or contactless, and can provide personal identification, authentication, data storage, and application processing. NFC-enabled portable devices can be provided with apps, for example, to read electronic tags or make a transaction when connected to an NFC-compliant apparatus.